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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27513937">To Every Rose a Thorn</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/InPrisonForSparkling/pseuds/InPrisonForSparkling'>InPrisonForSparkling</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fantasy, Found Family, M/M, Multi, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Political Intrigue, corrupt government, i crave attention and validation ;w;, please comment-</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-08 04:28:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,084</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27513937</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/InPrisonForSparkling/pseuds/InPrisonForSparkling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Viper is a criminal. A fugitive. A dissenter.<br/>Caspian is a prince. A future. A prize.<br/>Lexi is a scoundrel. A thief. An orphan.<br/>Eve is a retired assassin. A killer. A shadow.<br/>Demelza is a noble. A beauty. A rebel.</p><p>And the king?<br/>The king is a puppet.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lexi/Eve/Demelza Woode (To Every Rose a Thorn), Original Female Character/Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Viper/Prince Caspian (To Every Rose a Thorn)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1 (part 1)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>If you enjoyed the story, kudos and/or comments are very much appreciated :D</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Viper smiled to himself as he strolled down the streets of Merati.</p><p>Even though he could see people there, right in front of him, starving and thirsty and begging for money, he smiled. Because, finally, he had found a way to help.</p><p>He was on his way to the Woode Mansion, a beautiful place, a huge house with ivy crawling up its walls. But Viper wasn't going there for the view. Rather, he planned on making a visit to a friend there, a friend who would - with any luck - agree to help him.</p><p>And, well, Viper never ran out of luck.</p><p>He turned a corner, pausing to glance at a shadow flitting by. Or, more accurately, a person flitting by.</p><p><i>Ah,</i> Viper thought, smiling again. <i>Lexi. Perfect.</i></p><p>"Lexi!" he called out. "I know it's you!"</p><p>Lexi slumped into Viper's view, pouting. "Aw, come on.  How'd you know it was me?"</p><p>"Pretty obvious," Viper chuckled. "No one else has the guts to sneak up on me like that."</p><p>Lexi made a face. "Not fair."</p><p>Viper started walking again, knowing that Lexi would follow.</p><p>She did, while whisper-yelling, "Where are you going?"</p><p>"Woode Mansion," he said airily. "I want to ask dear Demelza a favor."</p><p>Lexi was silent for a moment, before asking, "A comet?" <i>An uprising?</i></p><p>Viper shook his head. "Smaller-scale than that. We'll be taking a coin."<i>We'll be taking a bargaining chip.</i></p><p>Lexi paused again. "May I join you?"</p><p>"Of course."</p><p>For a while, they were silent, walking in tandem towards the mansion.</p>
<hr/><p>Prince Caspian was bored.</p><p>Astra knew he'd rather be doing anything but this, but his father was insistent that he should learn the violin, and the king was not a man you argued with.</p><p>So here Caspian was, trying his hardest to play an instrument that hated him. Some days he thought his father did this on purpose.</p><p>Eventually, with a sigh, Caspian set down the violin and its bow. If he couldn't play it, he couldn't play it. Simple as that.</p><p>"Prince Caspian?" he heard a voice call out.</p><p>Caspian turned around to face the servant that had called him. "Yes?"</p><p>"Your Majesty, the Order requests your presence at their dinner tonight," the servant replied, bowing hastily.</p><p>Internally, Caspian groaned. He couldn't really refuse, but the Order's dinners were about as exciting as a five-hour-long lecture on the many ways paint can dry, with demonstrations.</p><p>He smiled weakly. "Of- of course."</p><p>"Thank you, Your Majesty." The servant bowed again before scurrying off.</p><p><i>Oh, Astra help me,</i> Caspian thought.</p>
<hr/><p>Demelza Woode stared out of the window, picking at the threads on her dress.</p><p>Her stupidly long, impractical dress.</p><p>She much preferred to wear shirts, trousers and occasionally skirts, but as a noble lady, that wasn't something she was permitted to do.</p><p>Outside, in the city, she was much more in her element, but instead she had to sit and look pretty and sip tea the correct way.</p><p>It was suffocating.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1 (part 2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Viper surveyed the house in front of him.</p>
<p>Lexi coughed. "Viper? Snake boy? Demelza's room is that one." She pointed at a window.</p>
<p>"I'm not looking for that, Lexi," Viper murmured. "I'm trying to figure out if I should scale the walls or just knock on the door."</p>
<p>"Oh, scale the walls, definitely." Lexi grinned, pulling herself up onto the wall.</p>
<p>Viper sighed, shaking his head. "Should've known you'd say that."</p>
<p>Quietly, they climbed towards Demelza's window. Viper wasn't entirely sure they should just burst in like this, but Lexi was insistent that Demelza wouldn't mind, and she'd be rather grateful, actually.</p>
<p>Viper trusted Lexi for reasons that even he couldn't comprehend.</p>
<p>Eventually, they got up to the window, Lexi somewhat more enthusiastic than Viper.</p>
<p>Demelza, who had been sitting by the window, jumped in surprise. "What in Astra's name are you two doing?!" she hissed, opening the window.</p>
<p>Lexi stifled a laugh at Demelza's accent, the posh, rounded vowels of the noble class. "Ask Viper, he dragged me out here."</p>
<p>"Lexi," Viper sighed, "I didn't drag you out here. You followed me, of your own accord."</p>
<p>Lexi stifled another laugh.</p>
<p>Demelza rolled her eyes. "Alright, then. What are you two doing here, Viper?"</p>
<p>Viper hoisted himself up and through the window. "I came to ask a favor."</p>
<p>"Oh?" Demelza's tone was skeptical.</p>
<p>"I want you to help me take a coin. From the palace," Viper told her.</p>
<p>Demelza's eyes widened, and she lowered her voice. "A coin? A bargaining chip? What for?"</p>
<p>Viper smiled. "If all goes well, negotiations with the king."</p>
<p>"Then what're we taking?" Lexi asked.</p>
<p>Viper smirked, resting his head on one of his hands. "Prince Caspian."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Caspian sat on his bed, turning the pages in a book. He wasn't really paying attention to the contents; he'd read it many times before, and while it may have once been fantastical and charming, it had become mundane.</p>
<p><i>Just like most things in my life,</i> he thought gloomily.</p>
<p>He wasn't sure why he did what he did next. It was random, a thought that he decided to follow through on.</p>
<p>Caspian yelled, threw the book across the room, tore and ripped and hit things. He let all the pent-up anger he had out, kicked and screamed until his throat was raw. He growled and cried and punched the walls, because if he wasn't perfect, the model prince in every way, it was his fault that his father failed. His mistake.</p>
<p>He lived in a gilded cage.</p>
<p>If only he could find the key.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Eve leaned against the walls of an alleyway, staring at her knife.</p>
<p>Nineteen years old, and she was a killer.</p>
<p>Back when she'd started, she had needed money, and assassins were in sickeningly high demand. Even then, she hadn't been an idiot, and she took the obvious choice. She became an assassin.</p>
<p>It hadn't been an easy decision. Eve knew that killing changed a person, always for the worse, and it was really just a question of whether she'd go crazy from the guilt or just become overwhelmingly numb.</p>
<p>Still, she knew an oppurtunity when she saw one, and she'd become a killer for hire.</p>
<p>Really, it was horribly easy. All you had to do was snuff out the mark's life.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 2 (part 1)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Demelza paused for a moment, before nodding. "I'll help. Certainly more interesting than sitting here and looking pretty."Viper nodded, starting towards the window again. "Good. I'll meet you on Lysemae Street, five bellrings from now."</p>
<p>"Alright, I assume the same goes for me?" Lexi asked, already hanging onto the windowsill.</p>
<p>"It does." Viper climbed down and bowed at the others. "I'll be seeing you. May Astra smile upon you."</p>
<p>"May she smile upon you," Lexi chuckled.</p>
<p>Viper knew full well that the prayers were mostly pointless, but they comforted him slightly. They were familiar, a good luck wish, and by Astra's sword, in Merati - the loud, bustling capital city of the kingdom of Sater - anything familiar was precious.</p>
<p>He made his way back to the city, soft dirt roads giving way to cobblestone.</p>
<p>If he was going to kidnap the prince, he'd need at least one more person. Preferably with expertise at sneaking into rich people's houses.</p>
<p>...Well, he knew someone with those qualifications, but she wasn't exactly an expert at getting the rich people <i>out</i> of their houses. Mostly, she knew how to ensure they never left again.</p>
<p>Viper sighed, already scanning the crowds. <i>She's the best I can do.</i></p>
<hr/>
<p>Eve knew Viper was looking for her the moment he started looking around like that. If it had been Lexi he was seeking, all he'd have to do was look closer at the nearest wall. Demelza, he'd go to the noble girl's house.</p>
<p>So logic dictated that he was looking for Eve.</p>
<p>They didn't know each other that well; they knew each other's names, jobs, but not much else. Still, if Viper needed something done quickly and quietly, Eve was usually who he asked.</p>
<p>Besides, his assignments were rather entertaining.</p>
<p>"Well, snake," she said, having slipped through the crowds towards him, "what do you want from me this time?"</p>
<p>Viper smiled. "Oh, I can't tell you here."</p>
<p>Eve snorted. "Should've known. Come on, then." She grabbed his arm and brought him into an alleyway. "Now that we're in private, what do you want?"</p>
<p>"I've finally found a bargaining chip that I think will work on the king," Viper told her quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.</p>
<p>Eve's eyes widened. She had a pretty cushy job, apart from the killing, but she knew that most in the city lived a hard life, and she would do a lot to fix that. "You want me to help you get it?"</p>
<p>Viper nodded.</p>
<p>"Well, I need to know what it is first." Eve's tone was skeptical, but in truth, her mind was already made up.</p>
<p>Viper glanced around again, before telling her, "Prince Caspian."</p>
<p>"A kidnapping?" Eve asked.</p>
<p>"Yes." Viper was smiling now, the smile that only appeared when he had a plan. A good one. "If we can capture him - the king's heir - we can get the king to agree to anything."</p>
<p>"You're not <i>wrong</i>," Eve said slowly. She considered for a moment. "I'll help you. If only because you'll die without me."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Caspian sighed, watching a servant clean up the mess he'd made.</p>
<p>He'd never thought it was fair that, just because someone was born lower than him, they had to clean up <i>his</i> mess, had to carry out every one of <i>his</i> orders.</p>
<p>He'd mentioned it to his father once, when he was younger. He still remembered what his father had said, word for word.</p>
<p>
  <i>"Caspian, it's the way things are. You should be grateful, anyway."</i>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 2 (part 2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>just to clarify:<br/>bellring = hour<br/>mornring = a.m.<br/>evenring = p.m.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Caspian wondered, distantly, how many bellrings he had until the Order's dinner. He had slightly mixed feelings about it, though they were mostly dread and resignation.</p>
<p>He didn't really understand why the Order invited him to these dinners. His father hadn't been invited in quite some time now, and there wasn't a reason Caspian could think of that he should go instead.</p>
<p>Although, the king had been sick for a while, which explained why he hadn't been invited. But why, then, in Astra's name, would the Order invite Caspian?</p>
<p>Caspian sighed, shaking his head. There were better things to do than sit around worrying about this.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lexi shoved her way through the crowds, muttering apologies as she went.</p>
<p><i>A kidnapping, huh?</i> she thought to herself. <i>Best to dress for the occasion.</i></p>
<p>She pushed aside a rich-looking man, smiling at the indignant cry of "Do you know who I am?!"</p>
<p>She didn't, but she knew that he had one less wallet now. A shame.</p>
<p>Eventually, she got to her destination - an old bookstore, her hideout. It wasn't much, but it kept her warm and dry at night.</p>
<p>And it served as a place to hide things. In Merati, anything you carried around was fair game.</p>
<p>She stashed the man's wallet in a bookshelf, glancing at a pile of crates in the corner. They held her clothes, and occasionally food, but she wasn't hungry right now.</p>
<p>She went through a couple of crates before finally finding what she was looking for - a shirt, leggings, gloves, and a pair of boots. Not too different from her ordinary outfit, but slightly more clean, dark, and suited to sneaking around.</p>
<p>She pulled them on, whistling a Mera drinking song. She never drank, but that didn't mean she didn't <i>pretend</i> to.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Demelza sat in the library of Woode Mansion, contemplating how best she could escape into the city.</p>
<p>She'd done it before, but she normally came up with a new, more ridiculous scheme.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, she had used nearly four bellrings convincing her parents that nothing was amiss and putting on suitable clothes, and Viper had said they were to meet at six evenring. That left her about one bellring before she had to be on Lysemae Street.</p>
<p>She sighed, starting up the stairs toward her room. The elaborate escape plans would have to wait for another day. For now, climbing out the window would suffice.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Eve had a knack for being exactly on time. Never a minute more or less.</p>
<p>She was known for it; some called her the Timekeeper. She'd always liked that particular nickname.</p>
<p>This meeting with Viper would be no exception. One reason she suspected he hired her was that she was silent and quick and, well, always on time.</p>
<p>Eve wasn't one to disappoint.</p>
  </div></div>
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